If its VX or better, nothing touches the rum but my lips and tongue. Having said that, I've read that a splash of water (only a few drops) can vastly enhance the flavor of finer spirits, but I've never tried that.

If we're going to mix, we generally get some Appleton White or Appleton Special at our local store.

By the way, I've easily procured VX locally; as of last year (about this time), Extra and even in some cases Blue Label has become available in the US. I was easily able to convince our local liquor store to stock Extra; another larger mega grocer keeps the Blue under lock and key ($90/750 ml).

The one rum that you will have a difficult time finding here in the USA is Appleton Reserve.

My local liquor store carries all BUT the Reserve and they say it is not imported to the states. To me this is the Rum with the BEST flavor. On the rocks, with coke and a twist of lime or any new concoction you can come up with the Appleton Reserve has a long lasting mellow flavor that will stay with your taste buds for hours.

I like the appleton reserve with coke, daiquiri's and in cake. I'm on my LAST bottle of reserve til October, so I am completely on "ration status" LOL! I prefer the Appleton Genesis over Bacardi ANYDAY for drinks like the mojito and long islands!!!I have about two sips left in it, so I'm on extreme ration status with it!! I let my cousin from Milwaukee who swears by Bacardi drink some of the Genesis with her coke and I am ashamed to say that I didn't offer her another drop after her first taste!!

I live in ne Wisconsin.... near Green Bay. Last year I had read the article about how Appleton had hired a PR firm (in NY, I believe) to market their premium rums here in the US. I put 1 and 1 together and kept my eyes open, and lo & behold, in June, I found some at a Piggly Wiggly in Waupaca, WI (we were camping). As soon as we got home, I went to our local mega-grocer and spoke to the liquor manager about getting some in, and voila... two weeks later, there were 6 bottles on the shelf at $30/750ml.

A workmate of mine gets to Canada quite often, so I've been asking him to keep an eye out for the Blue Label. He came to me about 2 weeks ago to tell me that he saw ANOTHER local perveyor had stocked the Blue Label... two bottles in their lockup... for $90.

So I'd speak with your local liquor store to see if they'd be interested in stocking it.

Thanks for the information Chris, we travel to NH in the summer and I have looked in the state stores there, not stocked. I going to ask the store where I buy the VX, it seems I'm the only one that buys it though.